


Every Step Along the Way

by thekindmagic



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Childhood Friends, Gen, I'm so hesitant to use the ship tag because they're literal BABIES, but if I keep going... that's where it'll end up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-14 04:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9163039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekindmagic/pseuds/thekindmagic
Summary: "Thank you for watching over my son, Ignis," King Regis tells him.Ignis isn't sure what he's being thanked for, since most of the time it's more like Noctis is watching out for him. He still nods and bows.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After the revelation that they were six and three when they met, I HAD to see what that would look like.  
> Ignis's uncle is canon to the prequel, but the implied backstory of him losing his parents to the Empire is mine. It made sense to me based on how impassioned he is about revenge in the game's banter...  
> Ignis as a sad, quiet, and initially non-verbal kid was inspired by how vehemently he denies being like that annoying twerp in Lestallum who talks like a Wall Street tycoon when he was young.  
> (I'd love to keep going on this, just left-out scenes from Ignis's point of view over the years...)

Ignis has just turned six when he comes to Insomnia for the first time.  
He isn't sure what's happening. He can't remember. There was a raid, that's what everyone keeps talking about when they think he's asleep or not listening. The Empire. He thinks there was fire.  
Every time someone new goes down to their knees and puts their hands on his shoulders, they smile, but they look like they're about to cry. It makes him want to cry too.  
People try to get him to speak. He won't. He wants his parents, but they never come.

\---

Ignis has never met his uncle before, but he likes him the best of all the new people he's met so far. His uncle doesn't pretend to smile, and he doesn't touch Ignis or try to make him talk. He asks yes or no questions, like whether Ignis is hungry. He lets Ignis be alone.

\---

Ignis's uncle takes him to a meeting with the King. Ignis is afraid, but he goes anyway. They aren't in a big hall, just a bedroom, and that makes it less frightening.    
"This is Noctis," the King says, and points at a very small boy stacking blocks on the carpet.    
Noctis is the prince. Ignis is supposed to say 'Your Highness,' but he doesn’t. He just bows.    
Ignis's uncle looks at the King, worried, but the King doesn't look upset.    
"Noctis, this is Ignis Scientia. He'll be joining us here for a while."    
Noctis has a block in each hand, a blue one and a red one. He looks at them for a second, then holds them out to Ignis. "Favorite color?"    
Ignis doesn't answer. He knows the adults are watching, and he doesn't want to pick. He doesn't want to be here, it's too hard and people are staring at him, he can feel tears starting in his eyes.    
Noctis frowns. He scoots closer to Ignis and sets both blocks down in front of him. "Here."    
Ignis doesn't want the blocks, but he's so grateful for Noctis making it easy that he bends down to pick them up anyway. "Thank you," he says. It's the first thing he's said in a long time.    
His uncle makes an odd sound and puts his hands over his face.    
The King smiles.

\---

Ignis sees Noctis three times a week, in the mornings.  
 "Sad today?"    
Noctis asks him that a lot.    
Sometimes Ignis nods, and then Noctis will pretend-read to him out of picture books. Sometimes Ignis shakes his head, and then he'll be dragged by the hand to whatever Noctis wants to do that day. A lot of the time, it's coloring or blocks. Ignis is good at both those things. He shows Noctis how to blend crayons into different colors, and how to build his block towers higher. Noctis smiles and laughs a lot, even when the pictures are scribbley or the towers fall down.    
Ignis starts getting up early every day, just to make sure he never oversleeps on the days that count.

\---

Ignis has a lot of books, but not much else. Everything he has is a gift, or else something his uncle bought him. The palace tailors make his clothes now. He used to have toys, little figurines his mother would bring back from Lestallum.    
Noctis tells him he can use his toys whenever he wants, but Ignis doesn't want to take Noctis's toys. He holds the special little Carbuncle sometimes though, and Noctis says it likes him.    
Ignis likes it when Noctis borrows his books. Noctis circles his favorite pictures with crayons, and sometimes draws his own. Ignis keeps it a secret in case they'd get in trouble for ruining the books, but he likes them better this way, they feel more like his.

\---

Ignis has a tutor now, instead of a school. He doesn't appreciate the tutor. Ignis can read already, but his tutor won't believe him because he won't read out loud.  
He knows the tutor is complaining about him to his uncle. He writes _I'm sorry_ the best that he can on his uncle's stationary and leaves it on the desk. His uncle tells him he has nothing to apologize for.    
The next time the tutor comes, he's nicer.

\---

"Sad today?" Noctis asks.    
"I can read," Ignis tells him.    
Noctis is excited. "Can you do voices?"  
 Ignis doesn't know if he can. Noctis says they can do it together.  
 Ignis reads the sentences, carefully, one at a time, and then Noctis repeats them in voices. When Ignis tries to do the voices, they don't come out right, but Noctis never minds doing them himself.    
Ignis still practices.

\---

"Thank you for watching over my son, Ignis," King Regis tells him.  
 Ignis isn't sure what he's being thanked for, since most of the time it's more like Noctis is watching out for him. He still nods and bows.

\---

When it's time for Noctis to start with the tutor, he and Ignis have a lesson together.  
The tutor gives Ignis a list of words to read. They get harder as the list goes on, but Ignis can read almost to the end. He trips over 'azure,' but remembers it in the end. He can't quite wrap his mouth around 'fidelity,' and the tutor stops him while he's trying to remember 'equitable.'    
Then it's Noctis's turn. Noctis doesn't make it very far, but Ignis knows Noctis read more words than he was supposed to on his first try. The tutor looks surprised.    
"Iggy reads with me," Noctis says, and holds his hand.    
Ignis smiles.

\---

Ignis and his uncle are invited to dinner with King Regis and other important people sometimes. Ignis knows about rank, and that he doesn't have one. He knows he shouldn't be able to sit by Noctis. King Regis lets him anyway. Probably because they're the only two kids, but also maybe because Noctis will call across the table to talk to Ignis if they're far apart.    
Noctis picks at his beans with a disgusted look on his face. He kicks Ignis under the table to get his attention. "These are gross," he sort of whispers.  
 Ignis doesn't mind beans. He pushes his plate toward Noctis when he thinks the adults aren't looking. "I'll eat yours."    
Noctis looks at him like he's the best thing ever. "Trade your fruit thing?"    
"I _like_ the fruit thing," Ignis whispers back.    
"Oh," Noctis says sadly, "okay."  
 Ignis thinks about it. "We can still trade," he decides.    
The adults probably notice them switching food around, but they must not mind. Ignis's uncle is always trying to get him to eat more. Maybe the king says the same thing to Noctis.

\---

King Regis stops Ignis on his way to see Noctis one morning, and asks him what he'd like to do when he grows up.  
Ignis hasn't thought very much about growing up, but now it seems very important.  He's figured out that there's no going home. There are probably other places he could go... but he doesn't want to. He knows his way around the Citadel now, he knows the way to Noctis's room in the palace. He doesn't want to start over again somewhere else.    
“I’d like to stay here and be an attendant," he tells King Regis, "like my uncle."  King Regis seems happy about his answer.

\---

"I told my dad I'm gonna marry you," Noctis says when Ignis joins him.    
Ignis frowns. "Why?"    
“'Cause I am."  
 Ignis shakes his head. "No. Why are you going to marry me?"    
Noctis shrugs. "You're better at prince stuff. Manners and school and rules. I'm supposed to marry somebody like that. I like you."  
 "I like you too," Ignis says.    
"Good," Noctis nods. "Pinky swear you'll help me be king?"    
"Pinky swear," Ignis repeats solemnly, linking their little fingers together.

\---

Noctis is five, and Ignis is seven going on eight.    
Noctis doesn't know what it means that the Crystal chose him.  Ignis is afraid.  
 He's read about the old kings and the daemons and the prophecies. They're all very sad stories.    
When King Regis comes in to check on them, Ignis bows and asks for an audience. King Regis smiles and nods.    
"Could the Crystal change its mind?" Ignis asks. "Could it pick someone else?"    
The smile doesn't stay very well on King Regis's face. "Someone else?"  
 "I could try," Ignis offers. "I've read the stories, I think I understand."    
King Regis takes a deep breath and turns around. Ignis waits patiently.    
“No, Ignis," King Regis says. "I'm afraid the Crystal will not be moved by any efforts of ours."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so thrilled with all the people who enjoyed the first part?? I plan on continuing after this, and I hope everybody continues to enjoy it <3

When Ignis turns eight, his uncle sits him down and asks him if he’s serious about working at the palace.   
Ignis is. He pinky swore, and he meant it.  
He spends the next few months taking tests and getting interviewed by a lot of staff and security people whose names he doesn’t know. When it gets hard to talk, he pretends he’s doing voices, like when he reads with Noctis: the Official Attendant Voice.   
The more he uses it, the easier it comes to him. Everyone seems to approve.

\---

Noctis gets into a lot of trouble. Ignis didn't think princes were allowed to get in trouble, but Noctis likes to go outside when he isn't supposed to, and he always gets in trouble for that.   
Sometimes Noctis tries to take Ignis outside too, but Ignis won't go. He'll let Noctis drag him right up to the garden door, and then he'll stand in the doorway and watch while Noctis looks for frogs.  
Sometimes people come by and ask him what he's doing, and he tries not to give Noctis away, but he isn't a very good liar.  
He starts practicing.

\---

King Regis is a very busy man.  
Ignis thinks he understands that, because he’s busy now too. But even though he’s busy, Ignis always makes sure he has time when Noctis wants to play with him.  
King Regis doesn’t.  
Noctis will wait for his father for hours, refusing to go to dinner unless King Regis will be there. Ignis sits with him in his room and waits too.  
One night, when he knows Noctis is hungry but won’t go down to dinner alone, Ignis goes to the kitchen and asks the people there to help him make rice and eggs: the easiest of Noctis’s favorites.  
It’s still harder than he expected.  
His favorite cook helps him carry the dishes up to Noctis’s room, but she lets him go in alone.  
“It’s like a picnic,” Ignis says hopefully, setting the food down before he drops it. He points at the balcony window. “We can eat under the stars.”  
Noctis sniffles, rubs at his eyes, and smiles.

\---

Sometimes King Regis has time for Noctis, and they go fishing in the afternoons or touring the country on weekends.  
It leaves Ignis and his uncle with not very much to do.  
They both work very hard. Ignis’s uncle says he works too hard for a little boy.  
He tries to send Ignis to makes friends with other children in the Citadel, but it doesn’t work very well. Most of the children are loud, and some of them tease him. Talking is hard around them. Ignis ends up using the Official Attendant Voice, but that only makes things harder.

\---

Lessons are a nice distraction while Noctis is gone, but Ignis doesn’t like the ones on Imperial history.  
When his tutor gets a call in the middle of one, Ignis doesn’t mind the interruption - it’s always harder to focus when they’re talking about Niflheim.  
When the tutor comes back, he goes down to his knees. He puts his hands on Ignis’s shoulders.  
Ignis is frozen and breathing hard. He knows what he’ll hear: a raid, the Empire.  
He remembers fire.  
He’s shaking. He can’t force the words out, even though they’re important.  
The gods are supposed to be able to hear you even when you don’t speak, so Ignis tries that.  
_Please, please, please,_ he prays silently.  
_I want Noct to come back._

_\---_

Noctis comes back.  
Ignis isn’t allowed to see him, so he sits in the hallway outside his room with a lot of other people who aren’t allowed to see him either. He sits there for a long time.  
Eventually, the guards clear everybody away for the night, but Ignis is still small enough to hide behind one of the big vases until he’s the only one left. His heart is racing, and he’s afraid if he gets caught, he’ll be kicked out of the palace forever.  
He still sneaks in through the bedroom door.  
King Regis is asleep in an armchair, and Noctis is in bed under the covers: Ignis can hear him sniffling from across the room.  
Ignis climbs into bed beside him.  
Noctis turns his head, and a tear falls down his cheek onto the pillow. Ignis wipes the traces of it from Noctis’s face very gently.  
“I got hurt,” Noctis whispers.  
Ignis nods.  
“There was a huge daemon.” Noctis hiccoughs, and his eyes start to get scared. “I think- Iggy, I think people died.”  
Ignis hasn’t ever really understood what he felt about the Empire until now. He knows it took his parents away, and he’s read about all the terrible things it’s done, but that sick, hot feeling was always something he just swallowed down until it went away again.  
He stares at Noctis, who stares back at him, shivering and wrapped in bandages. Ignis carefully pulls Noctis in closer to him. He puts his face in Noctis’s hair and holds on.  
Ignis _hates_ the Empire.

\---

King Regis doesn’t mind that Ignis snuck into Noctis’s room after all. When he wakes the boys up the next morning, he’s crying.   
He tells the guards Ignis has permission to see Noctis, and gives Ignis a provisional title: _Lord Scientia_.  
Ignis gets his own room, close to Noctis’s.  
If Ignis earns it, he’ll be Noctis’s advisor someday. He’ll be at his side for the rest of their lives.  
Ignis intends to earn it.

\---

Ignis spends all his time in Noctis’s room.  
He pretends Noctis is really asleep when he’s faking to get out of talking to visitors. He brings piles of his colored-in books and does the voices. He goes back to his favorite cook and asks her to teach him more of Noctis’s favorite recipes.  
Noctis doesn’t talk very much, and Ignis understands.

\---

  
Ignis’s tutor gives him reading assignments, and once a week quizzes him mercilessly.  
Ignis reads his lessons while Noctis is asleep, because he has better things to do when he’s awake.

\---

  
_When I get better,_ Noctis whispers secretly at night.  
_When I grow up._  
_When I’m king._  
He never talks like that to anyone except Ignis, and Ignis loves that Noctis knows he’ll be there for all of those things.

\---

Ignis doesn’t get to go to Tenebrae.  
It makes sense when his uncle explains it to him: the Empire will be watching for opportunities, and the more people are traveling, the more likely it is that they’ll be noticed.   
That doesn’t stop Ignis from being upset.  
Or from laying up at night and worrying.  
The Oracle’s magic is hard to understand, but Ignis spends all his sleepless nights reading about the Nox Fleurets and their miracles. He wants to believe in them, but he also wishes he was there, just in case he could help Noctis sleep.

\---

Ignis’s tutor is frustrated with him again.  
Ignis isn’t not talking because he can’t, not anymore. He’s only quiet because he’s tired and distracted.  
He tries very hard on his essays to make up for it.  
He tries not to show how hard he presses with his pen every time he has to write the word _Niflheim_.

\---

Ignis is ten years old when he watches the news footage of the attack on Tenebrae.  
He doesn’t want to be frozen and afraid anymore. He’s so tired of it, so exhausted from being so scared and sad for such a long time.   
Ignis promises himself that he will never feel like this again.   
If he gets Noctis back, he’s never going to let anybody else hurt him. Not daemons, not the Empire, not a prophecy.   
Nobody.   
Ignis is going to stay right by Noctis’s side forever, and he’s always going to know exactly what to say and what to do to keep him safe. He’s going to help make Noctis a good king that people will love, just like he promised. They’re going to be okay for the rest of their lives. They’re going to be happy.  
He needs one more miracle, and then he’ll do the rest himself.


End file.
